Presiding over the ear, the eye, the sense of touch, the sense of taste, and the sense of smell, as well as the mind, this soul experiences the objects of the senses.

Krishna continues the account of embodied experience: the soul, seated as the inner witness, presides over the five senses and the mind, through which it experiences the world of objects. The word adhiṣṭhāya — "presiding over" — is important. The soul does not become the senses; it presides over them, as a king presides over his officers without being identical to any of them. Yet in ordinary experience, this distinction is forgotten — the presider becomes so absorbed in the reports of the senses that it takes itself to be the sensor. This forgetting is the root of bondage. Remembering the distinction — even briefly, even imperfectly — is the beginning of liberation.